Last weekend’s Edinburgh Marathon, being run for the fourth time, is fast becoming a major event on the road racing calendar, and this year attracted in excess of 4000 runners. You wouldn’t expect a course north of the border to be flat, and so it isn’t, with the last three miles being uphill just when aching legs are screaming for mercy. Added to that, conditions were hot and sultry, so it was a surprise that only five runners ended up in hospital with a further 72 requiring medical assistance of one sort or another.

Against this backdrop, the performance of the Striders’ lead runner Julie Masterman was simply sensational. Her 3.28.04 gave her not only 10^th place in her age group, a massive achievement in a quality field like this, but also automatic qualification for London next year. Julie has worked hard for this, but all the training miles in the world come to nothing unless you have the mental toughness to see the job done.

Julie’s husband Andy and Richard Anness were also competing for the Striders, finishing in very creditable times of 3.29.15 and 4.21.31 respectively. Neither are at their best having had injury disruptions, and certainly neither would begrudge Julie her five minutes of fame from an outstanding effort.